Hs reaction to the stunning success of the US men's relay team (due to another - Jason Lezak - who was incredible) was fabulous - every single sinew in his body burst with joy.

11 Golds in 2 years so far - Wow!

Just watching the sychronised diving....

We fancied a go at that!

"And here come the British couple...." splat!!
"Oh dear!"

I am starting to think that I love the achievements, but actually don`t like any of the events much.
We had a British hopeful at my school for the swimming medal, she was given too much hope at a very early age, bottomed out by the age of 16 and became a swimming instructor instead.

Extraordinary and he's going to win several more!

Of course I'm a bit biased - I love swimming too.

But I must reiterate what I say above - it was that single second when his US team won the relay due to someone else's fabulous last minute effort that told me why he's such a champion.

He cares - with every sinew in his body.

Funnily enough, watching Phelps (which is a joy in itself - it relaxes me) - he swims like I do!

Oh he's a hundred times faster and a million times better but I can see from his body language - he loves it.

That's why I swim - I love it.

Must get a pool.

Yes he is a fabulous athlete.

At the same time I'm having a deep think about the Olympics in their present form. Phelps along with plenty of athletes from the west really do have great advantages-such as NASA designed swimsuits to aid them.

How can a poor African country compete on a level playing field ?.

The Olympics certainly does inspire many athletes to give their best but I think I'd prefer to see them now change into something a bit more dignified and less glitzy. The utterley kitsch Chinese opening ceremony should signal the scaling down of what has become an expensive indulgence.

Afterall-is say-Tanzania ever going to be able to host the games in their present form ?. Hardly, but why not if the spirit of the Olypmics is supposed to be about drawing everyone together ?.

Today we really get an Olympics in a tradition that was begun by the 36' Berlin games with the Nazis determined to show the world Aryan superiority and the formula hasn't really altered much since. (bearing in mind that old Fascist supporter Juan Antonio Samaranch was the Olympic overlord for so long !)

funny you say that-as I like the achievments but not the event !!

I'd like to see the Olympic games become a more dignified event and a place where all athletes basically have the same advantage.

That isn't how it is at present.

I feel so sorry for Cseh, the Hungarian swimmer, who is quite brilliant and smashing records like mad, yet has been totally eclipsed by Phelps.
Any other year he'd be a hero with loads of golds instead of loads of silvers.
He's also a lovely swimmer.

I've spotted the difference between Phelps and me in the pool (apart from the fact that he's brilliant and I'm not).

He's slightly tired at the end.

Now we all know why - he's breaking records and moving like the clappers.

The whole point of my swimming is that I never get even slightly tired. I swim entirely for pleasure (not even to do myself good), so I travel at the incredibly comfortable natural speed and simply go on and on and on (often to the amazement of observers - they couldn't believe me in prison; officers used to question me open mouthed after I'd swum nonstop for an hour).

So I never emerge breathless or tired.

An interesting medical question. Could I go on forever? I feel I could - the only thing stopping me would be the effect of the water on my skin, which starts to get wrinkled and white.